The Theology of the Body by John Paul II - The Catholic Primer

finality of his own masculinity-femininity, that is, of his own sexuality. At the same time,
the words of Genesis 2:25: "They were both naked, and were not ashamed," seem to add
to this fundamental truth of the meaning of the human body, of its masculinity and
femininity, another no less essential and fundamental truth. Aware of the procreative
capacity of his body and of his sexuality, man is at the same time "free from the
constraint" of his own body and sex.
That original nakedness, mutual and at the same time not weighed down by shame,
expresses this interior freedom of man. Is this what freedom from the "sexual instinct" is?
The concept of "instinct" already implies an interior constraint, similar to the instinct that
stimulates fertility and procreation in the whole world of living beings (animalia). It
seems, however, that both texts of Genesis, the first and the second narrative of the
creation of man, connected sufficiently the perspective of procreation with the
fundamental characteristic of human existence in the personal sense. Consequently the
analogy of the human body and of sex in relation to the world of animals - which we can
call an analogy of nature - is also raised, in a way, in both narratives (though in a
different way in each), to the level of "image of God," and to the level of the person and
communion between persons.
Further analyses will be dedicated to this essential problem. For the conscience of man -
also for modern man - it is important to know that the revelation of the "nuptial meaning
of the body" is found in those biblical texts which speak of the "beginning" of man. But it
is even more important to establish what this meaning expresses precisely.
The Human Person Becomes a Gift in the Freedom of Love 15
Let us continue today with the analysis of the texts of Genesis, which we have undertaken
according to Christ's line of teaching. Let us recall that in the talk about marriage he
referred to the "beginning."
The revelation, and at the same time the original discovery of the nuptial meaning of the
body, consists in this: it presents man, male and female, in the whole reality and truth of
his body and sex ("they were naked") and at the same time in full freedom from any
constraint of the body and of sex. The nakedness of our progenitors, interiorly free from
shame, seems to bear witness to this. It can be said that, created by Love, endowed in
their being with masculinity and femininity, they are both "naked" because they are free
with the freedom of the gift.
This freedom lies at the basis of the nuptial meaning of the body. The human body, with
its sex, and its masculinity and femininity seen in the very mystery of creation, is not only
a source of fruitfulness and procreation, as in the whole natural order. It includes right
from the beginning the nuptial attribute, that is, the capacity of expressing love, that love
in which the person becomes a gift and - by means of this gift - fulfills the meaning of his
being and existence. Let us recall here the text of the last Council which declared that
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